Nearly half of the population are worried they will not be able to pay their mortgage or rent during the coming year as the economic downturn takes hold, according to research issued this week.

Around 44% of homeowners are concerned about meeting their mortgage repayments during the next 12 months, with 15% very worried, according to research carried out by the Conservative party.

A further 47% of people who are council or housing association tenants are concerned about keeping on top of their rent, while 41% of private renters are also worried.

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps says people who had traditionally felt secure against the threat of repossession were now having to face up to the very real prospect of losing their home.

Meanwhile, housing charity Shelter warned that the government's new housing benefit system was in danger of creating "poverty traps" in certain areas.

It says the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which is replacing housing benefit in the private rented sector, is leaving many tenants with significant shortfalls in rent, meaning they either have to pay the extra money themselves or move to poorer areas where the benefit will cover their rent.

It warns that many areas in towns and cities were in danger of becoming too expensive for LHA claimants, forcing people to move to rural outskirts where there were fewer employment and training opportunities.

LHA is paid as a flat rate benefit, after means-testing, according to the size of a household and its location. It is calculated using the average rent in a given area, known as the Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA). But Shelter says that because the areas are so large, there are often huge differences in the rents people are asked to pay. As a result, it says people in the expensive parts of the BRMA are forced to move or pay the shortfall themselves when they are switched to LHA.